News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Eclipse watchers hope for clear skies but view ahead remains cloudy

 Sun and clouds
Jerry Clayton
/
Texas Public Radio
Sun and clouds

The National Weather Service said on Monday that forecast for the eclipse trended toward increased clouds and rain chances in South Central Texas.

Meteorologists said clouds won't necessarily make the eclipse unviewable.

Thinner high clouds could be transparent enough to allow for decent viewing conditions and breaks in cloud cover could also occur over the viewing window.

National Weather Service said the forecast is still evolving and could change closer to the event.

The image below shows what is known as a prognostic chart, or prog chart. Mainly used by aviators, these charts show future positions of weather features based on various forecasting techniques including computer models.

 Prog chart from Aviation Weather Center valid on Sunday, April 7th
Aviation Weather Center
/
National Weather Service
Prog chart from Aviation Weather Center valid on Sunday, April 7th

It shows that on Sunday April 7, a cold front will approach the San Antonio area from the west. The dashed line over Texas indicates a dry line, which is a delineation of moist air and dry air.

In warmer months, storms can fire along the dry line and typically move eastward. Cold fronts can also produce storms, depending on their strength, speed and other factors, such as available moisture and instability.

There are several different weather computer models that forecasters rely on.

One is the ECMWF, better known as the European model. The image below shows the model’s potential of rain for Monday, April 8 at 1 p.m.

 Screenshot from weather.us showing the ECMWF image valid on Monday, April 8th at 1pm
Weather.us
/
Weather.us
Screenshot from weather.us showing the ECMWF image valid on Monday, April 8th at 1pm

Again, forecasts this far aren’t much better than 50/50, but it does hint that there may be clouds and rain around the time of the eclipse.

The NOAA Climate Prediction Center's forecasts showed that Texas had a 33 to 40% probability of above normal precipitation during the time frame of the total eclipse.

TPR will continue to update this forecast between now and April 8.

Marian Navarro contributed to this report.

Copyright 2024 Texas Public Radio. To see more, visit Texas Public Radio.

Jerry Clayton